PARACHINAR: Tens of thousandsof people protested in Parachinar on Thursday to demandbetter security after twin bombings in a market there last weekkilled 75 people, officials and witnesses said.
Citizens of Parachinar began a sit-in protest soon after thetwo bombs went off last week on Friday evening, as shoppers were
out buying supplies in preparation for the breaking of the faston one of the last days of the holy month of Ramadan.
"We are tired of picking up the dead bodies of our people,"said Arshad Umerzai, a former provincial government minister.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced 1 million rupees($10,000) compensation for the families of every victim of theblasts, and 500,000 rupees for the wounded, but the protestersdismissed that, saying victims of attacks in other places gotmore, a witness said.
Security forces stopped media crew from travelling into thetown to cover the protest on Thursday, saying they neededspecial permission.
Parachinar is part of the Federally Administrated TribalAreas, ethnic Pashtun-majority areas along the Afghan bordercovered by special laws and regulations.
A former senator, Allama Abid al-Hussaini, said the sit-in,centred in a town park, was estimated to have attracted 70,000participants on Thursday.
A senior government official in thetown said tens of thousands joined the protest.
Parachinar had already suffered two bomb attacks this year,before last Friday´s blasts, that killed about 50 people.